Xi'an Famous Foods Chinese Inspired Smashed Cucumber Salad
Xi'an's Famous Foods Chinese Smashed Cucumber Salad is one of my favorite dishes in the whole world. It's crisp, bright, spicy and full of flavor -- basically the perfect easy side dish of all time! Disclaimer: I have no idea if this is how they make it but I've tried to recreate it for years and this is the closest I've ever gotten!
Ingredients
- 6 small Persian cucumbers
- ½ cup seasoned rice wine vinegar or less depending on the size of the bowl
- 2 tablespoon black vinegar
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon sugar turbinado is preferred
- 1-2 tablespoon crispy chili oil
- kosher salt
Instructions
- Trim the ends off of the cucumbers then take the flat side of your knife and place it sideways on top of one cucumber. Using your hand, carefully smash them like you would a clove of garlic. Repeat for all cucumbers.
- Using your hands, tear the smashed cucumbers into pieces and place in a small bowl so there’s not a lot of excess room for them to float around.
- Fill the bowl half way with rice wine vinegar so that half of the cucumbers are submerged. Then fill the rest of the bowl with water. Give it a stir and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, drain the liquid from the cucumbers then add the black vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, a pinch of salt and the crispy chili oil on top. **I recommend starting with 1 tablespoon of the chili oil and then adding another after tasting because depending on the brand, sometimes it’s super spicy and sometimes it’s not.**
- Now stir everything together and let them rest for at 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
**I recommend starting with 1 tablespoon of the chili oil and then adding another after tasting because depending on the brand, sometimes it’s super spicy and sometimes it’s not.**